Examination of hypoglossal nerve

Introduction The hypoglossal nerve is the 12th paired cranial nerve. Its name is derived from ancient Greek, where ‘hypo’ means under and ‘glossal’ means tongue. Except for the palatoglossus, which is innervated by the vagus nerve, the nerve has a solely somatic motor function, innervating the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles of the tongue. The hypoglossal…